<p>Based on what you have said, some schools I would look into (both reach-type schools and more “practical schools”):</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman, MIT, CalTech, Northeastern, Vanderbilt, RPI, Carnegie Mellon, the Claremont Colleges, BU, Harvey Mudd</p>
<p>I know they’re bigger than you would like perhaps, but I think for engineering/sciences, it would be worth looking into UMich, the UCs, UNC Chapel Hill, UVa, UW-Madison, UIUC, and Minnesota Twin Cities. They have great programs in these fields and you may be able to find the smaller community you were looking for within them.</p>